Obsession Confession
by Witty Sarcasm
Summary: One shot. Jackson waits for Lisa to confess to her something important...but doubts and low self confidence get in the way. Not to mention that he's an assassin and should be out for revenge... Post Movie...Which I don't own...


**Just a little something my Muse thought of while we work out the kinks in Chapter Four of Feelings Misunderstood? or Brought to the Surface? . Gotta keep 'em happy right? (grin)**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Red Eye... there would've been a different ending... (winkwink)...or maybe just a different bathroom scene...(smirk)**

Lisa pulled up to her father's house around nine p.m. It had been eight months since her terrifying flight, and the hotel manager was back in Miami to visit her father. Their last visit had been cut short by the whole assassination affair and had been anything but relaxing. That "vacation" was more stressful than the time her hotel's computer system had had a virus and three different families had ended up booking the same room, with no rooms left open in the emergency file. It hadn't helped that they had all come in at the same time and had argued for a half hour over who had the right to get the room. Damn politicians...always the cause of her stress.

Getting out of her rental car, (for she had opted to rent one rather than illegally "borrow" one this time around), Lisa walked slowly up the dark pathway to the front door, fishing in her purse for the house keys her father had insisted she take with her. An extra pair, he'd said, just in case.

As she neared the front door, Lisa began to grow uneasy. Call it woman's intuition, a sixth sense, or just plain paranoia, but something was not right. There was something...off about the house. No lights were on, not even the porch light; the light whose bulb usually had to be changed every month from being kept on almost constantly. No sound or movement could be detected from within and Lisa felt the cold fingers of fear brush up and down her spine.

She shivered. Memories of eight months ago flashed through her mind's eye, rearing their ugly heads. No...it was all over. It _had_ to be! Jackson was dead. She had seen it herself! Her father had devlivered the killing shot! But...she hadn't actually seen the paramedics pronounce him dead. She hadn't actually been told about his admittance to a cemetary, or even of his arrest for that matter. She'd just assumed, as Jackson's piercing blue eyes had dimmed and slipped shut, that he'd gone to the great Red Eye flight in the sky, (for he'd seemed to enjoy himself immensly on the one eight months ago), and since then Lisa had tried her damnest to put the situation and it's nightmares to rest.

So much for that idea. All it took was a dark, quiet house, and all the fears and insecurities that stemmed from that tramatizing experience came rushing back. Lisa shook her head softly, sending her curls bouncing. She had to focus. Something was not right and she had to figure out what it was. Quietly walking around the house to the side door, the young woman lifted the large pot. Once she saw that besides the light, or lack there of, in the house that everything was fine, she could relax.

There was no key.

A small cry escaped Lisa's pursed lips. He _was_ inside! He had to be! The assassin had come back for revenge on her and her father. He must've been watching her. That was the only explination for his timing. He had been keeping tabs on her _again_ and so had known that she was coming to her father's. He'd planned accordingly; after all, what better place for a reunionthan than that of where they had last met?

The hotel manager looked around fearfully at the bushes and plants that surrounded the large house. If she had learned anything on that Red Eye flight, it was that Jackson put forth all he had into a job and into making sure that job got done right; stalking and befriending people without said people realizing the trap. That, and if a guy in a Tex Mex correctly says your favorite drink is a Sea Breeze, just take the damn Sea Breeze.

Remembering more of that fateful flight, Lisa recalled Jackson saying something about a man in a silver BMW. Turning frantic eyes to the street, she looked up and down for the signature car. Nothing. But Jackson wouldn't be stupid enough to use the same trick twice. He wasn't stupid, but he _was_ here.

A prickling of her scalp alerted Lisa to the fact that she was being watched. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Walking as calm as anyone could in this kind of situation towards her car, the manager was just about to open up the door and hop in, burning rubber to get to the police station when a picture of her dad's face flashed across her mind. She couldn't just _leave_ him all alone. Not with an assassin in the house...

Lisa's heart began to beat faster and faster as she turned slowly back to the house. Jackson was in the house with her father! No wonder he hadn't called her at the airport! He was probably dead! Her breathing becoming erratic, Lisa knew she was on the verge of some kind mental or nervous breakdown. Not how she wanted to start off her second vacation to Miami. Forcing herself to take deep, calming breaths, she tried to think rationally.

'I'm just overreacting,' Lisa thought, frantic eyes searching every window and door on the side of the house, 'Dad is probably just sleeping and the porch light burnt out...yeah...or he went to the store...,' Lisa looked up the driveway a bit further and to her dismay saw her dad's car, '...without his car.' Brow furrowed, Lisa had no choice but to go with her dad sleeping. But even that seemed off. He _always_ waited for her in the living room and, asleep or not, always had the place flooded with light.

The sound of a motor drew Lisa's attention to the passing Volkswagon on the street. Out of the corner of her eye, the manager saw a shadow move out of the way of the window. Turning her head sharply, Lisa sucked in a breath.

That shadow was too tall and too thin to be her father...

Taking another deep, calming breath, eyes still trained on the house, Lisa slowly bent down, slipping off her high heels. Another thing she'd learned from Jackson: high heels make _excellent_ weapons. Shoes in one hand, her house keys in the other, the young woman made her way slowly up to the side door. Upon reaching it, she swiftly opened it, darted inside, and quietly closed it. The faster she got this over with, the better.

Listening intently for any abnormal sounds, Lisa pocketed her keys. That left both hands open for shoe weapons. Having heard nothing out of the ordinary, she quietly made her way to the kitchen. There were knives in there...

Pausing in the doorway to make a visual sweep of the room, Lisa saw a piece of paper laying on the counter. Slowly, cautiously, she made her way over to it. Nothing and no one had jumped out at her so far, so perhaps she really _had_ been overreacting. Perhaps the long, lean shadow in her window had been ...her bedside lamp's shadow, thrown and moved by the Volkswagon's headlights. As for the key... Perhaps the note explained it?

Throwing caution to the wind and dismissing her fears as over reacting, Lisa flipped on the kitchen light. After her eyes adjusted, she saw the note was written in her father's messy scrawl and it didn't look forced or hurried. It simply read:

_Lisa, sorry that I won't be there with you when you get home, but your grandmother's lawyers found a second will and raised all sorts of hell about it. I am needed to go and try to sort things out, seeing as how my signature is on the witness line...how was I supposed to know she'd keep that old one? Anyway, I took the key out from underneath the pot...figured you wouldn't need it since you have your own set. As for my car...something was wrong with it and so I took it apart and now...well, not all the pieces will go back in. I took a cab to Grandma's. I'll probably be out of cell range the whole trip and they disconnected your grandma's phone since no one is there to use it, so I'll talk to you when I get back in a few days._

_Love ya much hon, Dad._

Lisa gave a little laugh at her dad. You'd think that after a seven hundred dollar mechanic bill, he'd learn not to try and fix things himself. Men.

Having all of the "mysteries" about the state of the house, the key and the car all cleared up, Lisa felt much more relaxed. Placing her shoes underneath the kitchen table, she headed to the living room, flipping lights on along the way.

She was just about to enter the living room when her scalp began to prickle again. Turning wary eyes towards the still dark interior, Lisa's breath caught in ther throat.

Piercing blue eyes stared back, mockingly, into her own.

"Welcome home, Leese."

Lisa screamed at the sound of the slightly raspy, yet still frighteningly familiar voice.

"H-How did you get in here?" she stuttered at the _long, lean shadow_ of the man as he made his way towards her. Her eyes suddenly widened even more.

"It _was_ you in my room! By the window! When the car drove by!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking. 'Stupid!' she mentally chided herself at Jackson's predatory smirk, 'How could I let my guard down like this? I might as well put on a sign that says "Shoot Me Please" and go walk around downtown L.A.!'

"I'm quite suprised that you let your guard down so quickly, Leese," Jackson commented, earning himself a not so intimidating glare. "I had high hopes for you when you seemed so adament on checking out the house from the _outside_. Almost thought you had caught me when that car drove past." Lisa's glare turned incredulous.

"You were watching me all along?!" she shrieked. Jackson nodded, a maniacal grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I've been watching you for _weeks_, Leese. Just waiting for the oppurtune moment to strike." The magnitude of the situation finally setting in, Lisa's eyes suddenly lost most of their fear and took on a determined light. Jackson watched all of this with a smile. Finally, the defiant woman came to the surface. What she said next however, made his smile disappear.

"Well, if you were waiting for an oppurtune moment, then here it is. I'm alone, unarmed and my father won't be back or even able to be contacted for a few days, as I'm sure you read in his note. If you want to kill me, then do it. Now." The bold statement was slightly ruined by Lisa's body shaking visibally, but Jackson was stunned all the same. He had been expecting a fight, an insult, _something_ other than a bold, albeit scared, statement of resignation. She _expected_ to die. And by his hand too. Jackson mentally shook his head. What was the fun of being an assassin if people expected all your moves? What kind of killer would he be if he didn't catch people by surprise? No, this resigned look, this expectant light in her eyes just wouldn't work.

He'd have to fix that.

Taking a step forward, Jackson gave a smirk when she backed up half a step. She expected to die, and yet she still backed away. She'd suck as live bait. Can't be afraid of the predator.

"I'm not going to kill you, Leese," he grinned at her, though the grin hardly did anything to settle down Lisa's nerves. The last man that had grinned at her like that... Lisa gave a shudder as she remembered all too well the knife and the man...the parking lot...the hot sun, beating down on her outside while he beat her up in the inside...

With a gasp, Lisa turned her head away and sunk to the ground, shielding herself, as if from a blow. Confusion seeped into the assassin. ...What he'd do?... Wasn't she supposed to relax a bit now that she knew he wasn't going to kill her? Instead, she curled up on herself, shielding herself...from him...

Looking closer at the parts of her body she was shielding, Jackson felt himself deflate. She couldn't think...He wasn't going to...He was not like that bastard! He wouldn't _dream _of doing something like that to her! Or anybody else for that matter! He had more dignity and honor than that! He was an assassin, not a rapist. And he didn't plan on switching over anytime soon.

Now, to make Lisa see it the same way...

"Leese?" he questioned quietly, flinching visibally when she whimpered and curled in more on herself. Damn... He'd taken things a bit too far. Jackson hadn't been stalking her for the past few weeks with revenge in mind. It seemed that the assassin, with eyes only for the job, had become...smitten. He'd been following her to keep an eye on her...her and any suitors that he decided should die prematurely. He'd felt bad, seeing her constant fear and paranoia since the flight, and had even tried to make things easier on her by just fading out her life completely.

Easier said than done. Not two days after telling himself that he would only end up scaring her more and ducking out of her life for good, he found himself back at her house, stealthily peeking through her windows, trying to content himself with just the sight of her. And that had worked, for awhile, but then the need to _feel_ her had gotten too great. No longer was he content to simply watch her, he needed to touch her; to hold her in his arms, to soothe her fears away, to protect her. It seemed that now, he had been right. All he had ended up doing was scaring her more.

Jackson sighed. He hadn't meant for it to turn out this way... Not at all. He had planned to confess his obsession with her tonight; planned to tell her of his obvious love for her. Perhaps she'd be better off if he really did just fade out of her life. Another whimper drew his attention back to the frightened woman on the floor. But not like this. He couldn't leave her cowering in fear of him.

"Leese," Jackson breathed, kneeling down on the ground next to her and pulling her into a loose, yet protective hug. Lisa stiffened, almost to the point where she was in pain, but slowly, gradually relaxed as Jackson began to softly stroke her hair, humming a soft, slow song to her all the while. The assassin too, relaxed.

Lisa gathered her wits about her and slowly pulled away, suprised when the man beside her let his arms drop away from her. She knew that she had over reacted, _again_, but the shock and fear from the last hour had really taken a toll on her nerves. She found the slightest things reminding her of her bad experiences and she hated herself for it. Although Jackson was an assassin, she had seen him angry enough to know that he wouldn't force himself on her. Or so she hoped...

"I'm not like him, Leese," Jackson's slightly raspy voice murmured softly in her ear, as if reading her mind. Lisa nodded, relieved at his verbal confirmation. Somewhere in her mind, she knew he wouldn't do something like that, but it never hurt to hear it straight from the source.

"I'm sorry, Jackson," Lisa said quietly, ashamed of herself for even thinking of something like that. He was an assassin, not a rapist. Although, having an assassin so close, especially an assassin that would want revenge on her for ruining his job, wasn't really a comfort either. Jackson wrapped his arms around her agian, this time pulling her into his lap. Just as he feared, Lisa stiffened up again. Damnit!

"Leese," he tried to soothe, "I'm not going to hurt you. In any way, I swear." The woman in his arms slowly looked up at him, anger and suspicion in her eyes.

"You tried before, Jack," she ground out, "Why should this time be any different?" Jackson removed one arm from around her to run a hand through his shaggy locks.

"Because this time I--" Jackson abruptly cut himself off. No. He was going to be leaving soon. Lisa didn't need the weight of an assassin's love, the same assassin who tried to kill her and her father, hanging over her head. He didn't want her to not be able to move on.

"You what?" Lisa asked him softly, her heart strangely racing. Why was she so nervous about what he was going to say? Why did she feel all...funny inside when he had pulled her onto his lap? Because she thought he was handsome? Because a few of her nightmares that involved him were more steamy than scary? Because she seemed to be falling for him? No! She couldn't be falling for the same man who had tried to kill her, her father, and the Keef family! That was crazy! Maybe her racing heart and...funny insides had something to do with that bologna she'd eaten for lunch. She thought it had tasted a little funny...

Jackson sighed and shifted, bringing Lisa abruptly to the present. "This time I...have realized that--" He shook his head again. "I'm sorry, Leese. I can't say it." At her questioning look, he elaborated. "I don't want you to have it hanging over your head from now on." Fear began to trickle back into her eyes.

"My dad...is he--"

"Fine?" Jackson interruped, nodding the answer. "Yeah, he's fine. He left of his own accord, I just snuck in afterwards. I haven't done anything to your dad, Leese," he said seriously. Lisa nodded, for some reason believing his every word.

"So what can't you tell me?" the young woman questioned softly, causing Jackson's chest to heave heavily with a loud sigh.

"I don't think I should tell you, Leese. In fact, I think it'd be better if I just left." Moving to stand, the assassin was surprised -shocked even- when Lisa draped her arms around his shoulders, holding on tight.

"Don't go," she murmured quietly, "Not without telling me what is on your mind." Sitting back down all the way, Jackson pondered on how best to tell her. She obviously had no idea what he was going to say or else she wouldn't have been so adament of hearing it. He sighed again. Oh well, she probably woud've figured it out anyway, sooner or later, smart as she was.

"I've realized, in the last few weeks of watching you...that...I love you, Leese," Jackson said softly, so softly Lisa had to strain to hear it. When she did, her eyes grew wide. That would explain why her dad was still alive. Hell, that would explain why _she_ was still alive and why Jackson had not taken out his revenge on her. _He hadn't been planning on revenge at all._

"You...you love me?" Lisa asked in disbelief. Yeah, he was an assassin, but he was still extremely good looking and a real charmer; not to mention a good actor. He could have any woman he wanted, including that blonde man-chaser on the plane and yet, he still chose her? The only other guy that had "chosen" her had done so in a parking lot and...that encounter left a lot to be desired.

"Yes," Jackson replied, his head bowed, voice sullen. "Yes. The Beast fell in love with the Beauty, but unlike your favorite Disney movie, this won't have a happy ending." Lisa looked at him long and hard, remembering all the fear he had provoked in her during, and even after, the Red Eye flight. She thought of his job, his proffession of killing people, and of the way he could charm is way into it and out of any job. She remembered the way he had attacked her and her father, of the way he had blackmailed her into helping the failed assassisnation of Senator Keef, of the way he had threatened her and head butted her to knock her out but still found herself going back to the last ten minutes. Of the way he had held her, promising to never hurt her, comforting her when she thought him about to rape her, "watching" over her the past few weeks, leaving her father unscathed.

Lisa's eyes softened as she leaned forward.

"Oh, I don't know about that," she murmured, delighted in the way his head shot up, confusion, despair and a bit of hope all warring for domination in his blue eyes. "I think this could have a happy ending."

Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but found it covered moments later by Lisa's own. His desire suddenly rose from where he had tried to bury it and the assassin tightened his hold on the woman in his arms, drawing her farther into his lap. Lisa smiled into the kiss, opening her mouth to the man beneath her. Seizing his opportunity, Jackson slid his tongue smoothly into Lisa's moist cavern, mapping out every inch, memorizing her. How he loved her. Curling his tongue around hers, Jackson drew it into his mouth, nipping on it slightly, swallowing up the moan that threatened to escape the confines of Lisa's throat. Releasing her mouth, the assassin trailed wet, soft kisses across her jaw and down her neck, reveling in the way she shivered underneath his ministrations. Reaching the junction of her shoulder and neck, Jackson bit and sucked, marking her as his own. His own back arched up into the devilish hands that raked nails slowly, tauntingly across his back and Jackson moaned himself, feeling Lisa giggle on top of him.

Pulling back finally, Jackson smiled softly at the woman in his lap, her lips swollen from their kissing, his mark red on her neck.

"I love you, Leese," he murmured softly, burying his face in her neck, lightly kissing her racing pulse. He sensed her soft smile.

"I love you too, Jackson," she replied, cuddling closer to the man that held her. Jackson tightened his hold on her more, picking her up as he stood. He smiled at her questioning look, heading back farther into the living room and reclining on the sofa.

"Sleep, my love," he whispered to her, his eyes softening as she yawned. Nodding, Lisa pulled herself farther onto his chest, her head laying in the crook of his neck, her body half on him, half on the couch.

"'Night, Jackson," she slurred sleepily, already beginning to doze. Jackson smiled gently.

"Goodnight, Leese." He was glad he had decided to confess his obsession, although he'd never have expected for this Beast to actually win the Beauty.


End file.
